Put Your F'ing Dog on Leash

So I just got back from walking my dog. It was quite the workout. I happen to be owned by the second largest dog (great dane) in the neighborhood, however, most people don't know about the largest (mastiff) because its owners never take it for walks. The walk started out by us dodging the two little white 5lb dogs at the end of our street who miraculously "escaped" again. They escape because their owners open up the back door and boot them outside; no attempt is EVER made to confine these dogs to their yard, despite the leash laws. Then, when my dog pounces at them (at because I haul my dog back) when they get too close, the owners freak. After this happened 3 times in 1 day last summer, I informed them that if their dogs ran at us barking and growling and snapping, it constituted an attack and I was going to let my dog defend himself. I also threatened to call animal control if I saw the dogs loose again. For a while, this worked, but they are back to being a nuisance again. However, tonight we managed to get away from the 2 little white dogs without incident only to encounter a medium sized dog about a quarter mile later. Great. My dog is already keyed up and in protection mode from the last 2 loose dogs. Said medium sized dog is supposedly being walked, but no leash is in sight. I'm told by the people "walking" the dog as he barrels towards us "Oh, he's friendly, you don't have to worry." Don't think they liked my reply of "Come get your dog before I let my dog get him." They then yelled at me to control MY dog, who is now pitching a fit, barking, snarling and snapping while trying to pounce on this dog. HELLO!?! My dog is on a leash and hasn't got your dog yet, so clearly something is controlling him! I then wrestle my dog into a headlock (yes, it must look hysterical because I'm only 5'8 and my dog is at least 6'3 when standing on his hind legs). I proceed to tell them that clearly, I have control of my dog and that the only reason my dog is flipping out is because their dog is off leash. I then inform them that they have until I count to 10 to get their dog under their control before I let my dog go. The guy then came and grabbed the other dog's collar and dragged him away. I let my dog down and tell him to sit, which he does right away because the other dog is under control. I then told them (in the sweetest tones possible), that they must be new to our state because they don't know about the leash and license laws (dog's collar didn't have any tags to indicate vaccination or license). I then explain that all dogs in our state MUST be vaccinated for rabies and licensed. They must also be on leash at all times off their property and must be confined to their property by either a fence, an e-collar, or a line when out in their yard unsupervised. I then wished them good evening and we walked on, my dog prancing at my side (he's always so proud of himself when he "protects" me). We then proceeded to have a good walk for the next mile or so. As we turned back up our street, my neighbor's girlfriend lost control of her dog again, for the 3rd time this week. I like this neighbor, and he is great about making sure this little devil dog is under proper control, but his girlfriend should not be permitted to own any sort of pet other than a gold fish. Seriously, this little yippy thing has major aggression issues which she admits to, no training which she never does anything about, yet she routinely takes it out to put it in its pen off leash in her arms. She is then shocked when the dog sees something or someone, claws the crap out of her, escapes and charges at whatever or whoever is approaching. So far this week, I've succeeded in driving the dog off by spraying it with water from my water bottle, by running straight for it like a mad woman and tonight by hitting it across the ass with the end of my dog's leash. She was not pleased by that, but what could she say? She knew that I was pissed the dog was loose again. We have lots of toddlers (2 across the street from this particular house!) in our neighborhood, and I shudder to think what will happen if this dog encounters them- probably at least a bite incident. I understand accidents happen and dogs get loose. Hell, my dog has gotten loose 2x under my care. Both times, I've taken steps to make sure that it didn't happen again. I have no problem with the people who are chasing after their dogs because the dog got loose, it happens, probably to everyone at least once. Is it mean that I hope that the neighbor's girlfriend loses her dog to the neighborhood fox or coyotes?

New Heights of Boredom - Actually Watching Soccer!

Since my family moved to the 'burbs when I was 10, I've enjoyed playing soccer but I have never been into watching soccer. It just isn't fast paced enough to hold my interest the way hockey does. So I'm a bit shocked by my current interest in the World Cup. Am I really that bored? Or is it simply because I'm cheering on 4 different teams (US, England, South Africa and Australia- the last 3 in the order that my husband has followed since a child) and I'll lose interest as these teams are knocked out of the tournament?

I find myself spending the majority of my time watching wondering if ESPN doesn't want to expand the market for soccer in the US. I'm assuming that more people tune in for the World Cup matches than the average MLS match (this could be completely erroneous). People that aren't necessarily soccer fans but want to see what all the hype is about. So you'd think that ESPN would employ an announcer that explained some of the rules of the game. I do understand that they don't want to annoy people that are already fans by chatter explaining the game or the rules, so at the very least, you'd think they'd have the announcers refer you to a website that has the explanation of the rules. What I'm looking for is something like how the MLB explains the rules and stats of baseball on its website. The point of all this is that I spent 45 minutes searching the internet for FIFA's official red card rules. Basically, I just wanted to know if South Africa's goal keeper would be able to play their next match against France (as I now understand the red card rules, he will not play but be suspended). Do you think I could find those rules anywhere? I found a whole ton of crap about how red cards relate to human trafficking (some sort of soccer-themed promo to raise awareness of human trafficking), but nothing about the FIFA World Cup rules. It was incredibly aggravating. Eventually, I fell back on asking the question on Facebook, where an old friend nicely clarified things for me (Thanks again Jill!). Still, I can't help but feel that if FIFA wants to expand their audience, shouldn't they make it easy for people to find the rules for their tournament? Or maybe they left it up to ESPN and it's ESPN's failure?

Murphy's Law

So, I just booked my plane tickets and registered for a government job fair. DH just got an awesome job offer in an area where there is little employment for me excluding the government. Hopefully, going to this job fair will give me an "in". However, knowing my luck, Murphy's Law says that I should get an awesome job offer sometime this week so that the plane tickets will be a complete waste of money.

Why would I give you my resume?

Before attending the job fair the other day, I did my homework. I identified all of the companies who I thought would be interested in me and all those with posted positions that would suit someone with my skills. While researching the posted positions, I discovered a position at a company I had never heard of that I thought I suited perfectly, I certainly have a great deal of experience in all the skills they were looking for. Only glitch- they were looking for someone who had done a post-doc for 5-7 years. However, the position had been posted in December, so clearly they were having a hard time filling it. I decided to stop by that company's booth and ask if the post-doc requirement was hard and fast or if they would consider someone with the right skills but no post-doc. Turned out the representative at the booth was the owner of the company. Said owner has a MAJOR chip on his shoulder against people who haven't done a post-doc. He flat out told me that "I paid my dues and I expect every scientist that I hire to have paid theirs." Fine. It's his company and he can use any criteria he wants for hiring. I thanked him for his time (hey, at least I know not to bother applying to his company!) and started to walk away. As I started leaving he asked me for a resume. I looked at him and said "What would be the point? You just told me that you wouldn't even consider hiring me." Seriously, what would be the point of giving him a resume?

Scam

So I got this weird voice mail the other day. In it, I was told (by a computer) that "We're interested in your resume and would like to set up an interview with you this week. Please call us back between the hours of 8-5 to schedule your interview." First thought that went through my head is "You're so interested in my resume that you couldn't pick up the phone and call me yourself?" The next thought was "I bet this is a scam." Seriously, what legitimate company trying to hire a PhD would have a computer call the person and NOT identify what company they were calling from? I'm pretty sure that even if there is an HR department somewhere that is using computers to call and set up interviews, that HR department would at the very least identify which company they were calling from.

HOWEVER, because I didn't know which company the message was from, I called them back the next day. I got a generic voice mailbox stating "The person you are trying to reach is out of the office. Please leave your name and number." That confirmed it for me. This call was totally a scam. I almost wanted to leave a fake name and number....